Datelines: Stanardsville/norfolk

July 31, 2000

Couric greets public after news of cancer

STANARDSVILLE - State Sen. Emily Couric smiled and hugged her way through a throng of well-wishers at her first public appearance since she announced she has pancreatic cancer and will not run for lieutenant governor next year.

Couric, D-Charlottesville, shook hands, shared stories and kissed supporters during Emily Couric Appreciation Day at the home of Betty Brubach, former Greene County Democratic Party chairwoman.

"I get a lot of strength from people," said Couric, who dropped out of the statewide race July 20, a day after she got her cancer diagnosis. Saturday's event had been planned since March.

"I'm obviously going to be out in the community," Couric said. But, she added, "I'm going to spend a lot of time dealing with my health."

Couric urged supporters to work toward getting affordable health care for all Virginians and to think hard about the candidates in this November's elections.

"Thank you so much for this," she said. "I'm very flattered. I look forward to being your senator for a long time."

Man to be arraigned in drug ring case

NORFOLK - A man who has never been convicted of a felony despite several accusations of killing or wounding people faces arraignment Wednesday in a federal drug case.

A U.S. District Court grand jury issued an indictment this month accusing Larry Kenneth Speed, 33, of running a violent drug ring dating back to 1987.

Court papers portray Speed as an Uzi-toting man who built a drug empire by handling cocaine and heroin for New York dealers. He allegedly made enough money to buy a Porsche and a house in a well- to-do Virginia Beach neighborhood.

The indictment blamed three slayings on Speed. It also said Speed recruited a man to burn a rival's car, robbed another dealer at gunpoint and sexually assaulted a woman who had earlier shot two people while they collected a drug debt.

A capital murder case brought against Speed by the state in 1991 collapsed when a key witness ran out of the courtroom, saying she was too afraid to testify.